Showing 1148 results

Geoffrey Winthrop Young was born in 1876 and was the son of Sir George Young and Alice Eacy. He was educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was one of the most famous British mountaineers before the First World War. He met George Mallory at a dinner in Cambridge in February 1909 and they remained close friends often climbing together at the climbing parties at Pen y Pass (these were gatherings of leading climbers in Snowdonia). Geoffrey was Mallory's best man at his wedding to Ruth. He served in Belgium and France during the First World War as a war correspondent for the Daily News. He founded and commanded the Friends' Ambulance Unit in Flanders, and served mostly at Ypres. In August 1917 he was severely wounded and had his left leg amputated above the knee. After the War he continued to write and climb with only one leg. In 1918 he married Eleanor Slingsby and had 2 children. He died in 1958 and his ashes were scattered on the peaks above Pen y Pass.

In 1919 Sir Francis Younghusband was elected President of the Royal Geographical Society, and two years later became Chairman of the Mount Everest Committee which was set up to coordinate the initial 1921 British Reconnaissance Expedition to Mount Everest. He actively encouraged George Mallory to attempt the first ascent of Mount Everest. Younghusband remained Chairman through the subsequent 1922 and 1924 British Expeditions.